The /r/videos mods are going all out and someone made this lovely graphic to explain why subs are going dark next week.

While I’d love to have my users on Lemmy, I also hope that this actually does something for Reddit and they reverse course on their planed changes.

  • CheshireSnake@lemmy.one
    20·
    1 year ago

    I’m not putting it past reddit to suddenly backpedal and/or lower the API charges significantly then say they listen to their users/communities. And then slowly push 3rd party apps away. The damage has been done for me.

    • setsneedtofeed@beehaw.org
      11·
      1 year ago

      I am skeptical. The pricing on the API wasn’t merely unrealistically optimistic, it was “eleventy morbillion dollars” high. People only negotiate on numbers when they actually want to be paid. Reddit doesn’t want to be paid, it wants the apps to die.

    • ඞmir@lemmy.ml
      8·
      1 year ago

      And then they still won’t allow NSFW content but somehow people will forget about that part…

    • Towerism@beehaw.org
      6·
      1 year ago

      These execs that are pushing for IPO are probably so out of touch that your sentiment is well placed.

      • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
        5·
        1 year ago

        They might still be well aware of the damage they’re causing with this move. What if they think it’s all worth it because of all the money they will be getting in the future? What if they think it’s a risk worth taking? Besides, business comes first.

        • AbelianGrape@beehaw.org
          13·
          1 year ago

          I’ve said before, but I think they made a calculated decision to intentionally throw away all of their 3rd party app users. Essentially, some of those users will go to the first party app, but either way, none of us are giving reddit any ad revenue anyway, and that’s how Reddit makes money.

          Their calculation was wrong for several reasons:

          • The users that they are forcing away produce content, and Reddit would not have users generating ad revenue if Reddit did not have content.
          • A huge proportion of the people who make Reddit function (moderators) rely on third-party apps and affected bots/services like push/shift. Making those people leave is a Bad Idea.
          • Reddit has never had to worry about section 504 compliance (equal opportunity for service participation for people with disabilities) because third party apps have historically provided such opportunities. So r/blind probably wasn’t even on their radar - but their website and first-party app do not function with screen readers, so I fully expect them to get sued if they go through with this.

          This is probably great for (very) short-term income, which is what Reddit wants before they go public. But obviously, it’s bad in every way beyond that.

          • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
            5·
            1 year ago

            Totally agree. Reddit is absolutely committing a suicide with this move, even though there could be some financial reasoning behind it.

            Fortunately though, the fediverse seems to be ready for the coming exodus, so I don’t really mind. Besides, I’ve been thinking of cutting down or even quitting Reddit entirely. These events will only hasten the inevitable.

    • karbonkel@beehaw.org
      3·
      1 year ago

      I don’t expect them to. The amount users (mods excluded) using third-party apps is quite small I think, so they’ll just take the loss (if any).